


Beneath the Skin

by sonderwalker



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Manipulation, Eventual Happy Ending, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Physical Abuse, Slavery, Zyggeria AU, actually both implied but also, this is gonna be rough
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:01:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29369679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonderwalker/pseuds/sonderwalker
Summary: After getting their latest mission- free a group of kidnapped torgruta that are meant to be sold as slaves, Anakin, Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, and Rex go undercover to try and get as much information as they can before setting them free. But things don't go to plan, and now Anakin and Ahsoka are in the fight for their lives without Obi-Wan and Rex even knowing about it until it's almost too late.Zyggeria AU where things fall apart as soon as they go undercover
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, CT-7567 | Rex & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 22
Kudos: 93





	1. the market

“Stay close to me, Snips,” Anakin warned as they made their way through the market. Around them people moved about, shouting and trading, kicking up dust with their steps.

Something had changed in Anakin’s demeanor since they had landed.  _ No, before then _ , Ahsoka realized as she thought about it. 

She had remembered talking to Obi-Wan. Remembering back when they were on her home planet and they had first been learning about the horrors that this mission might have in store for them. She had promised to keep an eye on him. He had asked if she knew anything about his past before he came to the temple. She didn’t.

But now that she saw how he was acting here in the market, and when she thought back to how he acted when they had gone to Tatooine together, she was starting to become more and more curious.

But he had always stopped her from asking. Always saying that he didn’t want to talk about it.

“Watch where you’re going, girl!” A man yelled at her, shaking Ahsoka out of her thoughts.

She looked over at who had spoken to her, recoiling slightly as she felt his gaze travel up and down her body. She stumbled back when Anakin stepped in front of her and told the man to mind his business. She wanted to tell him that she could stand up for herself—that she wasn’t a youngling. But something told her, warned her, to keep her mouth shut.

So she did.

They kept walking, pausing when Anakin stopped. She leaned over to get a better look at what had caused the commotion.

Ahead of them was a group of large crates that were being moved across the walkway that they were on. Chained together, pushed along by people in rags. She looked away from the cargo and up at Anakin, whose shoulders were still, his fists clenched together.

Ahsoka looked back at the boxes and jumped slightly at the horror, the fear, the sorrow that seemed to come from them.

“What’s in there?” She whispered, looking back up at Anakin.

“Children.” He replied simply, not looking back at her. “Children are in there.”

She wanted to ask how he knew that. But she didn’t.

After the last of the crates had passed, they continued walking as if nothing happened. But Ahsoka still felt as if she could hear the echoing cries of the souls in those boxes, trapped without even any sunlight.

“Master?” Ahsoka asked as they continued to make their way through the crowded market. 

Anakin flinched, staring straight ahead before looking at her. 

“How do you know where we’re going?” She asked as she looked away, feeling the eyes of yet another older man on her. The headpiece she wore jingled slightly under her hood, and even though she was fully covered, she was still ogled, looked at as if she were a piece of meat.

“We’re looking for information on someone who is rich and powerful,” Anakin explained. “Which means that the people who work directly for her will also have some money.” He stepped to the side as someone brushed shoulders with him.

While Ahsoka was confident that he could take the Rodian that had brushed up against him, he didn’t bother and instead kept on walking.

“You also gotta listen, I heard some people talking about a new shipment of slaves back when we had stopped earlier.” Anakin said.

Ahsoka blinked. She didn’t remember hearing anything, but then again, the sorrow from the children in those boxes had washed out anything else.

“Do you think…” She trailed off, looking at a group of people that had passed them, a girl in chains as she tried her best to follow the men that were walking ahead of her.

The weight of the chains was too heavy for her, and Ahsoka could see how much she was struggling. But she could also sense how her fear kept her going.

“I do,” Anakin confirmed while nodding.

“It’s going to get really hectic, we’re gonna have to get closer to where they’re keeping them, and I need you to stay close to me, okay?” Anakin said as they weaved through a crowd that slowly seemed to be growing.

“I will, don’t worry.” Ahsoka replied, trying to get a smile out of him.

But when he looked down at her, his expression was unreadable. The small smile on her face quickly vanished.

Ahsoka watched as more and more people wearing chains and collars appeared, pushing boxes of cargo around. The misery of all the slaves around them was so mixed into the Force that she couldn’t tell anymore if there were more children within the boxes or not.

Then someone quickly grabbed her arm, yanking her off to the side. Ahsoka opened her mouth to yell, but a hand was quickly clamped over it. In the distance ahead of her, she could see Anakin frantically looking around, searching for her. Calling out for her.

She struggled and kicked, but it felt as if something were weighing her down, making her drowsy. She forced her eyes to stay open, forced herself to keep pushing away. She had to stay close to Anakin. She had to keep an eye on him.

She had promised.

* * *

The first thing that Ahsoka noticed when she woke up was how much her head hurt. The second thing that she noticed was that the robes she had been wearing earlier were gone, leaving the slave disguise that she was wearing on display. But the blue robes were torn, ripped, and burnt around the edges. She didn’t know how, or why.

The second thing she noticed was the smell—now that she noticed it, she couldn’t ignore it. All kinds of bodily odors wafted through the air and she tried not to think too much about where they came from.

The third thing was that she was in some kind of cell, on her own instead of the ones that she had seen earlier when they had first arrived. It was mostly dark, with spots of sunlight coming in from windows that were cut out of the stone walls high above her. She heard metal creak and groan in the distance, heard the distance cries and screams of others who were probably trapped like she was.

The fourth thing she noticed were the heavy and cold chains that were on her wrists and ankles. She pulled against them as a test, just to see, and then heard footsteps approach her.

“What a pretty thing you are,” A woman purred as she held Ahsoka’s face between her thumb and pointer finger.

Ahsoka jerked away, a scowl forming on her face as she did so.

“And feisty, too I see,” The woman said as she straightened back up.

“Perhaps she is a little too young,” She said to someone who was out of Ahsoka’s line of sight.

“She is pretty, exotic, but perhaps a bit too much.” The woman leaned forward again, inspecting Ahsoka’s face.

“Lips are a little too big for my tastes, but perhaps…” She trailed off, her eyes narrowing at Ahsoka.

“No, she is still too young.” She decided as she straightened back up.

“Did she come with the new shipment?” A man’s voice asked from behind her.

Ahsoka quickly turned around and watched as he approached, the same species as the woman. Not human, their faces reminded her of a loth-cat.

“No, we pulled her from the streets. She was with a human male.” The woman said as she looked back at Ahsoka.

“And the human male?”

“I have him.” The woman replied, looking back down at Ahsoka. “He is quite the specimen.”

“What did you do to him?” Ahsoka asked, not bothering to conceal the venom in her words.

“Oh? It speaks.” The man said from behind her, sounding amused.

_ “It?!” _ Ahsoka yelled, turning to face him.

“I told you, too feisty.” The woman noted while shrugging.

“Well, I’m sure that when you’re through with her, that will no longer be the case. And perhaps then, she’ll be old enough too to generate more of a profit.”

“Perhaps,” The woman said with a sneer as she looked back down at Ahsoka.


	2. the palace part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapter is short but important

Ahsoka stood on shaky legs, the chains weighing her down as she glared at the people watching her. They watched her with mild interest, until the woman came forward, grabbing Ahsoka’s face with one hand and inspecting it.

Her hand was cold, the rings on her fingers even colder, and her nails reminder her of claws.

The woman’s eyes narrowed and Ahsoka’s did as well. Her hand moved up, running over Ahsoka’s montrails, causing her to shiver involuntary.

Her breathing was fast and heavy, but she bit her lip, taking in air through her nose instead, trying to remember the techniques that she had been taught.

How to calm yourself, release your emotions into the force.

It wasn't working right now.

“They’re not shaped the way most of my customers like them,” the woman noted, staring at the tips of the montrails, her hand then sliding down to cup Ahsoka’s lekku.

“And these are too short, most men like when they are longer.”

“You said it yourself that she’s young,” The man pointed out, and Ahsoka yanked away from the woman’s grip, looking at him again.

“Perhaps you need to keep her longer, fatten her up?” The man suggested as he looked at Ahsoka again.

“She’s awfully thin, too thin if you ask me.”

The woman hummed in agreement before backing away, leaving Ahsoka standing there between the two of them, the chains stopping her from moving.

“Tell me more about the man she was with,” the man asked.

“Was he her master?”

“It seemed like it,” the woman said and shrugged, the gold chains around her neck shifting as she did so. 

“He was quite protective of her as they were making their way through the market.”

“Probably because he was worried that something like this would happen.” The man pointed out.

“What have you done with him?!” Ahsoka demanded, and the woman smacked her, the rings scraping against her flesh. 

She yelped in pain as she turned to the side, blinking back tears as she did so, remembering the words she had once said on a mission long ago.

_You don't have to look tough to be tough._

Ahsoka was sure that she was going to have a lasting bruise from that.

“Silence!” The woman demanded, leering over Ahsoka, who flinched back. 

“How dare you speak to a queen like that!”

“Well, what _have_ you done with him?” The man asked with a smile on his face.

“I am keeping the male. For personal use.”

“Ah, ‘personal use’. So, he’s either going to be a bodyguard or a boy toy or both.” The man said and rolled his eyes.

“He would fit both jobs quite nicely,” the woman purred as a smile spread across her face.

But Ahsoka could barley hear their conversation of the pounding of her heart and the roaring in her ears as she stood there, stunned by the smack to her face, but even more stunned at the way her life had changed so fast so quickly.

A tear slid down her cheek.

She wanted to go home.

* * *

“Should we be worried, General?” Rex asked as he looked at Obi-Wan.

“We haven’t heard from General Skywalker or Commander Tano for quite some time now,” he pointed out and Obi-Wan frowned.

“It is not unusual for Anakin and Ahsoka to be behind schedule on something. However, in this situation…” Obi-Wan trailed off, refusing to think of the worst-case scenario.

Anakin and Ahsoka must persevere. They didn’t have any other choice.

Obi-Wan watched as slaves were dragged along by their masters, masters wearing expensive jewels and clothes, pulling along starving slaves in chains.

He wondered if Anakin ever had to go through something like this. He hoped not. Thinking about this mission though, and the way that he had told Ahsoka Anakin's past with out consulting him first was causing him to have second thoughts.

Should he have put that much pressure on Anakin's padawan?

Should he have pressured the council to assign them to something else?

_Should he have told Ahsoka about Anakin's past without Anakin knowing?_

“Sir?” Rex asked as they walked through the streets, watching as the divide between the rich and the poor grew as they approached the palace.

“In this situation, a lapse of communication could be deadly,” Obi-Wan said as he stared up the palace’s high walls, casting long and dark shadows on the street below them.

The sun was hidden behind the high towers, the palace looming above them as Obi-Wan felt that despite the hot air of the planet, there was a chill in the air, and it was coming from the palace in front of them.

“Regardless, we have to focus on the task in front of us,” Obi-Wan continued as he shook his head.

“Our main goal is to find the location of those who have been kidnapped, while Anakin and Ahsoka distract the queen.”

“Well, maybe that’s why they can’t communicate with us then,” Rex suggested as he looked at Obi-Wan with a raised eyebrow.

“They probably don’t want to blow their cover.”

“Let’s hope that you are right, Rex,” Obi-Wan said as he took a deep breath before they continued walking towards the palace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't get it twisted- this story is mostly about ahsoka and anakin


End file.
